Energy minister rallies states to accelerate power line construction

Germany’s energy minister Peter Altmaier (CDU) wants to “make a pact with the states” and present a law to accelerate the building of new power lines, he told Funke Mediengruppe ahead of today’s Grid Summit with the states’ energy ministers in Berlin. Altmaier is under pressure to streamline Germany’s grid expansion, which is needed to transport renewable power from the north to the south of the country - but which is facing resistance by citizen initiatives and farmers. Lower Saxony’s energy minister Olaf Lies (SPD) said in a press release that, apart from new power grids, other measures – such as making conventional power plants more flexible – would have to be established to avoid curbing renewables growth.

See a CLEW dossier on Germany’s energy transition and the grid expansion here.

Please note: CLEW will publish an article on this subject later today.